The New Austonian

After a dreadful summer cold, it's time to catch up on blog posts before I hit my next travel destination. About two weeks ago, I made this yummy Baked Penne Pasta with Chicken, Broccoli, and Smoked Mozzerella. It was time consuming in the number of steps to make the dish, but the end result was worth the effort I put in.

While the oven was preheating, I worked hard to get everything else ready to cook. Fortunately, I also have a great sous chef to chop up vegetables so that makes my work easier. (He also worries about my horrible knife skills.) I did like that the recipe reminded me I could make everything in one pot so I took advantage of one of my fabulous LeCreuset round French ovens.

Typically, I struggle with the cream sauce, but this night, the stars aligned and my sauce turned out excellent. I combined all my ingredients, put them in the casserole dish, baked and was ready to eat. I really liked this dish. It seemed well rounded with carbs, protein, dairy, and veggies. While step intensive, none of the steps were overly difficult. The end result was great. It made plenty for dinner and there were enough leftovers to feed Mike while I did a quick trip to Houston. Mike likes to kick things up a notch and also enjoyed this dish with sriracha sauce. This dish will likely be repeated in our house and would be a great dish to share with a crowd or serve with the intent of leftovers.